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all the machines in the fleet as well as indicating the location of nearby Bell Customer
Service Centres. The ‘Dashboard’ presents the fleet’s current status at a glance, so
the customer can immediately get a feeling of what is happening to his machines
without having to look for the information. ‘Dashboard’ information includes the
machine’s hours, location, ignition status, next service interval and the most recent
key production parameters,” Pieter adds.
“Seasoned Fleetm@tic users will be happy to see the ‘Timebar’, which enables a
customer to analyse at what times a machine has been operational. ‘Shift Info’
shows information like hours
operated, tonnes moved,
fuel consumption, total cycles
completed and more,” he
continues.
An innovative feature is
the ‘Alert Ticker’, similar
to tickers used by TV news
programmes, which has
been introduced along the
bottom of the webpage to
display high priority alerts.
The website’s interactive
nature allows customers to
acknowledge these alerts.
“For example, there may
be several events indicating
that a specific operator
prevents his truck from
automatically cooling down
the turbo. Acknowledging
such events makes it easier
for a fleet manager to take
proactive steps and, if
necessary, improve operator training. In the long run this will help to ensure
that his fleet remains operational and productive for as long as possible,” he
explains.
Commenting on the benefits of Fleetm@tic, Pieter adds that the system has become
an important tool to ensure that onsite safety regulations and requirements are
met. “Taking this into consideration we have reconfigured the geofencing feature to
increase vehicle safety by facilitating geofencing in multiple zones based on speed
limitations related to load, inclination and site conditions. For example on some
mining sites certain haul roads are designated only for rigid trucks and a customer
can create a geofence to ensure that his ADTs do not use these haul routes. Similarly
if there is an area that is deemed not suitable for tipping, a geofence can be setup
so that the tipping function does not work in that area.”
Fleetm@tic is now available in two packages. The Standard package is fitted to every
Bell Articulated Dump Truck (ADT) during the manufacturing process to provide fleet
owners with aggregated data from the previous day or 24-hour shift and offers
comprehensive productivity data.
By comparison the Premium package now offers minute by minute real-time tracking
in addition to the previously offered event- and tip-cycle driven data.
“In 2008 we took a major leap forward by being the first company to offer real
global coverage when Iridium became our service provider with their pole-to-pole
coverage. This, together with the superior transceiver technology supplied by Quake
Global, enables Bell Equipment to offer its customers the best satellite monitoring
system in the world.
“Now we are introducing GPRS monitoring which uses cell phone networks to
complement our satellite coverage. This allows us the luxury of transmitting higher
volumes of data, which makes real-time tracking viable.
Fleetm@tic is a true leader in the monitoring of heavy equipment fleets in terms
of the information that we record and provide to our customers. With these latest
enhancements we are confident that the system offers our customers even greater
value by being able to efficiently intergrate Fleetm@tic data into their operations for
improved safety and productivity,” he concludes.
